Second Read: Miguel Angel Asturias’s Mr. President, presented by the Brooklyn Public Library
A close look at Mr. President with translator David Unger, novelist Rodrigo Fuentes, and scholar Vivian Arimany. In an unnamed country, an egomaniacal dictator schemes to dispose of a political adversary and maintain his grip on power. As tyranny takes hold, everyone is forced to choose between compromise and death. Inspired by life under the regime […]
Transformers
Novels of magical transformations operate on various levels, physical and metaphorical. In Mohsin Hamid’s The Last White Man, assumptions of race and identity are upended as a mysterious contagion turns white citizens brown. In Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch, an Indigenous Caribbean woman is turned into a mermaid—and then back again; while in […]
Roads Not Taken
What forces shape the different paths we take in life, or otherwise serve to close off those roads? James Hannaham transports readers of Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta to Brooklyn, bringing to life its community and those who persevere in the face of unjust political institutions and the prison system. In […]
Money and Madness
Can money really buy freedom? Why do we strive for wealth, even when it threatens to imperil us? Alexander Maksik’s The Long Corner and Whiting Award winner Hernan Diaz’s Trust both masterfully tackle these universal human dilemmas as they explore the gravitational pull of capital, the permeable nature of reality in a chaotic world, and […]
A Woman’s World
“Women are no longer willing to shut up,” the best-selling Japanese novelist Mieko Kawakami has said, and in her latest work, All The Lovers In The Night (translated by David Boyd), she continues to examine female agency in traditionally patriarchal societies, while Best of Friends, the latest novel from prize-winning Pakistani-British writer Kamila Shamsie, tracks […]
Who? New! International
Each season, BKBF presents several international debut authors whom we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we present Irish author Conner Habib (Hawk Mountain), Jared Marcel Pollen (Venus&Document) from the Czech Republic, Tibetan author Tsering Yangzom Lama (We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies), and Okwiri Oduor (Things They Lost) […]
The Difficult Fate of Girls and Women
Emerging stars of Spanish-language literature—Andrea Abreu (Spain), Alia Trabucco Zerán (Chile), and Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina)—come together in conversation on bringing women’s experiences to the page without apology or filter. Their books, Dogs of Summer (translated by Julia Sanches), When Women Kill (translated by Sophie Hughes), and Bad Girls (translated by Kit Maude), bring us […]
The New Fantastical
The latest novels from these bestselling authors explore power, creation, and the ties that can both bind us and rend us apart—sometimes in the same moment. NYT bestselling authors Ottessa Moshfegh (Lapvona), Marlon James (Moon Witch, Spider King), and Sheila Heti (Pure Colour) come together to discuss reality and fantasy—and the dark, murky, and mysterious […]
Growing Upwards
A young woman seeks ways to distract herself after her mother’s death. An intelligent liberal arts student looks to guidance from her favorite authors to move past heartbreak. Two Taiwanese-American best friends continue to find themselves drawn to each other, despite the passage of time, distance, and shame. Ella Baxter’s New Animal, Elif Batuman’s Either/Or, […]
Police State
A mother struggling to find her footing under the weight of immigrant parent expectations, a time-traveler in search of freedom through the mysteries of the past, and a sociologist held captive by an unknown civilization on Jupiter. These protagonists are each forced to confront the abusive power and violence imposed upon them by the structures […]
What Is Real?
Three authors invite readers to contemplate the meaning and nature of reality. Reflecting upon how the decisions we make (or don’t make) determine our fate, Antoine Wilson (Mouth to Mouth), Windham Campbell Prize recipient Yiyun Li (The Book of Goose), and Sarah Manguso (Very Cold People) explore how history and class intersect to shape our […]
Character Studies
The flawed but deeply compelling protagonists of Elizabeth Nunez (Now Lila Knows), Claire Messud (A Dream Life), and Don Lee (The Partition) struggle to form intimate relationships and do what is right. These three authors offer stunning portraits of humanity that challenge stereotypes and resist simplification. Moderated by writer and critic Carolyn Kellogg.
Time Travel
What are the legends and myths of a community’s earliest encounters with outsiders—of different races and faiths—and what do these divisions look like in the distant future when nations have broken apart once again? This is the territory of Rwandan writer Scholastique Mukasonga, author of Kibogo (translated by Mark Polizzotti), and Russian writer-in-exile Vladimir Sorokin, […]
Recent Histories
From the 1990s through the first two decades of the twenty-first century, these authors set their stories against the backdrop of changing neighborhoods, the rise of social media, and the growing irrelevance of the printed word. What is the place of literature amid all this erupting modernity? Dwyer Murphy (An Honest Living), Jess Walter (The […]
Dreams Deferred
From uncovering injustice, making and breaking relationships, to keeping the secrets of the past buried, these four authors have written characters who aspire and sometimes fail to realize their hopes and dreams. Join Marie Myung-Ok Lee (The Evening Hero), Tobias Carroll (Ex-Members), and Chelsea Bieker (Heartbroke) for this panel about persevering in the face of […]
Legacies of Injustice
Two authors craft compelling narratives that paint vivid portraits of America’s shameful past. In Geraldine Brooks’s Horse, two storylines from different time periods are threaded together to reveal America’s enduring legacy of injustice and racism. And in Jabari Asim’s Yonder, a group of strivers connect through love and friendship while fighting to survive the cruel […]
NBF Presents: An Afternoon with the National Book Awards
National Book Award–honored authors Martín Espada (Floaters, 2021 Poetry Winner), Katie Kitamura (Intimacies, 2021 Fiction Longlist), and Natasha Wimmer (Space Invaders, 2021 Translated Literature Finalist) gather for a cross-genre conversation about the borders of time, place, and language. Moderated by Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.
Sacred Memories
When reflecting upon the past, what exactly makes something “true”? Is there power in the act of actively remembering and honoring what one may long to forget? And to what extent are we willing to sacrifice privacy for human connection? These are just a few of the questions raised in Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House […]
Who? New!
Each season, BKBF presents debut authors whom we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we welcome Caitlin Barasch (A Novel Obsession), David Santos Donaldson (Greenland), Sasha Fletcher (Be Here To Love Me at the End of the World), Sidik Fofana (Stories From the Tenants Downstairs), and Carleton Eastlake (Monkey Business). […]
Laughter Amid the Ruins
The absurd vacuity of the internet. The hilarious mishaps of queer relationships. The ridiculous lives of New York’s rich and powerful. Humor thrives despite the odds in Xochitl Gonzalez’s NYT bestselling Olga Dies Dreaming, Jordan Castro’s debut The Novelist, and Lydia Conklin’s prize-winning collection Rainbow Rainbow. Join these authors in finding comedy amid tragedy. Moderated […]
Struggling to Survive
How do we persevere in the face of disaster? In Weike Wang’s Joan is Okay, a young ICU doctor faces sudden upheaval in her family just as the coronavirus pandemic throws the world into disarray. A man searches for his missing friend and answers during counter-revolutionary bombings in ’90s Havana in Ernesto Mestre-Reed’s Sacrificio. And […]
The Man Is Mine, He Just Doesn’t Know It Yet: The Bumpy Road to Happily Ever After
Sometimes you have to go out and get what you want, especially when it comes to love. Whether moving to a new city, begrudgingly learning about small-town life, or driving across the country to ruin Keanu Reeves’s wedding, the authors of the featured books know this all too well. Join Adriana Herrera (A Caribbean in […]
Upending Orthodoxy
The world turned upside-down: mad futures, delusional presents, and mysterious pasts intersect in these imaginative and unsettling books that play with time, space, and history as we know it. In Zain Khalid’s Brother Alive, a boy’s hallucinatory alter-ego steals his memories and unsettles his view of the world. In Vanessa Hua’s Forbidden City, a teenage […]
Shattered Families
As Tolstoy wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” But how do families break apart and splinter, and what remains for those who survive? In Titaua Peu’s Pina (translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman), outside forces bear down relentlessly on an already troubled Tahitian family, while in Namwali Serpell’s […]
Dial H for Horror
NYT bestselling authors Tiffany D. Jackson (The Weight of Blood) and Goldy Moldavsky (Lord of the Fly Fest) join acclaimed author Ryan La Sala (The Honeys) in a conversation about gruesome deaths, mysterious disappearances, and maneuvering your way out of dangerous situations. Moderated by celebrated horror novelist Danielle Valentine (How to Survive Your Murder).
Esmeralda Santiago and Jacqueline Woodson in Conversation
Brooklyn Book Festival 2022 BoBi honoree, memoirist and novelist Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, and Conquistadora will be joined in conversation by 2015 Bobi Honoree Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning writer of books for adults, children, and adolescents, including Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and Another Brooklyn. Introduced by Camille […]
Crime & Punishment
In Dwyer Murphy’s An Honest Living, an unwitting private eye gets caught up in a crime of obsession between a reclusive literary superstar and her bookseller husband. In The Family Chao, three apparently successful brothers draw suspicion following the death of their father in Lan Samantha Chang’s small-town murder mystery featured on Barack Obama’s 2022 […]
Where We Come From
Home will always call out to you, no matter where you go. The story of a couple meeting in modern-day New York is intimately entangled with the histories of their parents’ first loves in the Virgin Islands and Ghana. In County Mayo, Ireland, the daily lives of long-time residents are threaded through with loss, disillusion, […]
Sick and Satired
If laughter is the best medicine, satire may be the cure-all we need for the myriad ills of our time. In A. M. Homes’s new satirical novel, The Unfolding, a wealthy Republican donor outraged by the results of the 2008 election puts together a coalition of like-minded individuals to get America “back on track.” And […]
Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists II
In 2010, Granta introduced a stellar new generation of Spanish-language writers destined to challenge the literary status quo. More than a decade later, they’ve assembled another era-defining list which reflects an even greater variety—geographically, linguistically, thematically. Join us for a conversation featuring David Aliaga, Alejandro Morellón, Irene Reyes-Noguerol, and Mateo García Elizondo. Moderated by Valerie […]
Books…Tiktok…Booktok: What’s Up With #BookTok?
Authors E. Lockhart (Family of Liars), Ayana Gray (Beasts of Ruin), and Tashie Bhuiyan (A Show for Two) discuss the impact of the TikTok phenomenon, how readers are making books go viral, and how authors are tapping into the subculture and connecting with users on the platform. Moderated by NYT bestselling author Jessica Goodman (The […]
PEN Presents: The Writer as Migrant
PEN America presents Mexican novelist and founder of DREAMing Out Loud Álvaro Enrigue, co-editor of Somewhere We Are Human, Sonia Guiñansaca, alum of DREAMing Out Loud and a contributor to Somewhere We Are Human and t. jahan to celebrate new anthologies by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants, refugees, Dreamers, and more. Moderated by PEN America’s […]
Genre & Exploding Form presented by the Whiting Foundation
Join us for a discussion with Anthony Cody (Borderland Apocrypha), Andrea Lawlor (Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl), and Nana Nkweti (Walking on Cowrie Shells), writers who are dissolving genre boundaries to bring new life to familiar literary forms. Moderated by Lincoln Michel (The Body Scout).
Working Title (In-Person)
Using sound, installation, photography, collage, and selected excerpts, inaugural Rutan-Becket Writer in Residence Stella Fiore presents “Working Title,” an immersive literary exhibition of her work-in-progress. Step inside a love story exploring feminine, sexual, and ethnic identity set in Italy and the US. The private, unseen, years-long process of writing a novel will also be made […]
Finding A Story’s Language (Virtual)
Three debut novelists read and discuss craft, process, shared themes and inspiration. Cleyvis Natera’s Neruda On the Park follows a Dominican family in NYC as they face gentrification. Rebekah Anderson’s The Grand Promise depicts the impacts to homesteader and indigenous communities near a public works project during the Great Depression. Mary McMyne’s The Book of […]
Clash Books Presents The Logos Launch Party: Mark de Silva in conversation with Benjamin Hale (In-Person)
Mark de Silva discusses his new novel, The Logos, on publication day with Benjamin Hale (The Fat Artist and Other Stories) at Unnameable Books. Jaded and adrift, a young painter in New York joins his fate to a mercurial titan of industry in the hopes of finding a new form—and quite possibly a new life. […]
Contemporary Realism in Latinx Fiction (Virtual)
Hosted by the Dominican Writers Association and Soho Press, Sofia Quintero (Show and Prove), Francesca Padilla (What’s Coming to Me), and Christine Kandic Torres (The Girls in Queens) discuss the continued need for authentic Latinx fiction that holds up mirrors to real life inequities. While Latinx readers deserve escapist stories and representation in all genres, […]
Book Launch: Life Is Everywhere by Lucy Ives in conversation with Juliet Lapidos (In-Person)
POWERHOUSE Arena is proud to welcome back Lucy Ives for the launch of her Graywolf Press debut, Life Is Everywhere. The story of one night in the life of grad student Erin Adamo, locked out of her apartment and taking refuge in her university library with a few manuscripts that just might hold the answer, […]
Environmental Storytelling (In-Person)
How do environmental storytellers address income disparity, toxic ecologies, nationalism turning violent, climate crisis, or xenophobia? How do they put information into context, turn data into plot, or science into metaphor? How do storytellers marry the environmental with the social, or tether the precision of scholarship with literary prose, or look to the past to […]
Tables of Contents Reading Series (In-Person)
Our September reading series will feature authors Angie Cruz (How Not To Drown In A Glass Of Water), Clare Sestanovich (Objects of Desire: Stories), and Joseph Osmundson (Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between). Each reading will be paired with a dish inspired by the passage, with a conversation […]
Melville House Celebrates 20 Years (In-Person)
Join Melville House’s 20th anniversary panel, featuring co-founders Valerie Merians and Dennis Johnson in conversation with authors Steve Stern (The Village Idiot), Rita Zoey Chin (The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern), and Jinwoo Chong (Flux). Register in the link below. Location: Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Writing and Reproductive Freedom (Virtual)
Join The Resort writing community in a discussion with Onnesha Roychoudhuri, Kim Gek Lin Short, and Erin Williams, about what happens when contemporary literature reflects our current reality in ways that illuminate and expand urgent conversations. Roychoudhuri, Short, and Williams are contributors to the multi-genre collection I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive […]
John Oliver Killens Reading Series: Places of the Heart: Black Writers Explore Love in Their Works (Virtual)
The Center for Black Literature will present “Places of the Heart,” a literary salon spotlighting authors who will discuss the intricacies of Black love and how Black authors incorporate and depict those feelings and emotions through their characters in an authentic way in their writing, and how it evolves in their stories. Invited writers are […]
#YeahYouWrite (In-Person)
The #YeahYouWrite Reading Series features #LiteraryCocktails, delicious food, brilliant authors, and an open mic in the dreamy Ostrich room at M. Wells, LIC. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the energy is high. September’s event features DISQUIET International Literary faculty Katherine Vaz, Terri Witek, and Cyriaco Lopes and alum Vanessa Chan. Vaz and Chan will read […]
Covid and the Creative Process (Virtual)
BLR editors Danielle Ofri and Doris W. Cheng are joined in conversation by poet Phillip B. Williams and novelist Weike Wang. With special guests: playwright Sarah Ruhl and scientist/writer Joseph Osmundson. Covid has generated unusual creative pressures: Must writers write about the pandemic? Does bearing witness to inequities impact creative output? How do we make […]
Latinx Stories in Queens (In-Person)
Join Kew & Willow Books to celebrate debut Latinx authors Christine Kandic Torres (The Girls in Queens) and Alejandro Varela (The Town of Babylon), as they discuss their writing journey and the importance of representing Queens in their books. This conversation will be moderated by Lupita Aquino (better known as Lupita Reads). Register in the […]
After the Debut: NBCC Talks To Three Authors About What Happens Next (Virtual)
John Leonard Prize for best first book nominees Torrey Peters, Larissa Pham, and Megha Majumdar join the National Book Critics Circle to talk about what happens after the debut. How have their careers changed? What are they working on now? What are some problems they’ve encountered as they’ve begun to contemplate what’s next? https://www.bookcritics.org/
Two Debut Novels: Global Dislocations, Contradictions, and Love (In-Person)
Join Revolution Books for an evening of author readings and conversation. In Brother Alive, Zain Khalid tells of three immigrant boys, their adoptive Imam father in Staten Island, and a hallucinatory double. In All This Could Be Different, Sarah Thankam Mathews tells of a 22-year-old Indian immigrant in the U.S. navigating queer romance and her […]
We’ll Cry if We Want To: A Lit Party for Muthas and Others (In-Person)
Readings, theater, comedy, and comics (read live on projector screen!) from writers and artists of MUTHA Magazine, co-sponsored by Pen Parentis, featuring the awesome line-up of Emily Flake (The New Yorker and author of Mama Tried), Ariel Gore (Hip Mama and author of The Wayward Writer), Cheryl E. Klein (celebrating her debut memoir Crybaby), Lisa […]
Truth & Beauty: A Night of Readings, Music, Art, & Mingling (In-Person)
Join H.I.P. Lit, Bach & Bacchanalia, and The Coffee House for “Truth & Beauty” at Salmagundi, a social club founded by artists in 1871. Readings from author and philosopher Skye Cleary (How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment), debut novelist John Manuel Arias (Where There Was Fire), and poet Nancy […]
Latinx Authors ARE Breaking into the Publishing Industry (In-Person)
Four debut authors discuss why it’s important for Latinxs to tell their own stories and how they broke barriers to be published. Panel includes Elvira K. Gonzalez (Hurdles in the Dark), Xavier Navarro Aquino (Velorio), Cleyvis Natera (Neruda on the Park) and Vincent Tirado (Burn Down, Rise Up). Moderating is Patricia Gonzalez Armstrong. For more […]
“The Bookstour” at WORD: a Documentary Film and Panel about a Crazy Bookstore Road Trip (In-Person)
Calling all lovers of indie bookshops for WORD’s two-part event: a screening of a new literary documentary and a panel of Brooklyn’s foremost booksellers. When an author road-trips to bookstores around the country to promote his online-only novel, he discovers a community of readers who buy their books locally. These readers make a case for […]
Crown Heights Literary Celebration (In-Person)
Come celebrate the thriving Crown Heights literary scene with a reading and mingle hosted by four of the neighborhood’s most exciting arts organizations: The Franklin Park and Big Words, Etc. reading series. World Trans Forum Open Mic, and book-centered garden salon Hypothetical Books. Hear poetry and prose from local authors Simeon Marsalis, Sarah Madges, Cat […]
Akashic All-Stars Party (In-Person)
Greenlight Bookstore is delighted to once again welcome Brooklyn-based publisher Akashic Books to our Fort Greene store to celebrate an evening of remarkable publishing with Akashic staff and authors. Akashic Books is an award-winning, Brooklyn-based independent publishing company founded in 1997. Join us in celebrating Akashic’s recent successes with an All-Stars reading event, featuring Michael […]
Literary Taboo: Stars in the Shadows (Virtual)
Queer Indie and the Writing Community Chat Show will host an interactive, live-streamed panel regarding the use of story as a tool to illuminate the invisible. Topics will include narrative explorations of death and grief, literary treatments of trauma and tragedy, writing as reflection, and approaches to diversity. Panelists include: Dr. Mario Dell’Olio, TT Banks, […]
Jewish Noir II: Tales of Crime and Other Dark Deeds (In-Person)
Join a book launch party for Jewish Noir II: Tales of Crime and Other Dark Deeds with co-editor Kenneth Wishnia and contributors Jill D. Block, Jen Conley, Robin Hemley, Steven Wishnia, and Joy Mahabir. Panelists will discuss the light and dark sides of religion and culture, the legacy of negative stereotypes amid rising anti-Semitism, the […]
Stories from Brooklyn (In-Person)
A multidisciplinary gathering of authors explores what it means to live, write, and be in community with other writers in Brooklyn. “Stories from Brooklyn” brings together graphic novelists, poets, fiction writers, and essayists to discuss how the borough of Brooklyn inspires writing practice, encourages original literary work, supports writers and independent publishing, but can also […]
Annual Brooklyn Indie Party! (In-Person)
On Friday night, Greenlight Bookstore is delighted to once again partner with CLMP (Community of Literary Magazines and Presses), as well as some of Brooklyn’s best independent book and magazine publishers, to throw a Brooklyn-sized party celebrating the spirit of literary independence in our borough. Partygoers are invited to mingle with Brooklyn authors and publishers, […]
Who’s Afraid of Childhood? (In-Person)
Book bans are on the rise. Last year, the American Library Association tracked 729 attempts to remove library, school, and university materials, involving 1,597 titles—double the number in 2019. Shedding light on the most recent spate of censorship, “Who’s Afraid of Childhood?” explores books set in childhood to highlight denial and resistance to depicting its […]
St. Francis College Unbound (In-Person)
In the spirit of the St. Francis College MFA Program’s literary journal Unbound Brooklyn, professors from the St. Francis MFA program will read from work on the theme of that which is unbound: the limitless, the unfettered, the free. This reading will feature work that centers rebellion, rule breaking, taking creative risks, and producing radical […]
The Rumpus presents: Funny Women (In-Person)
The Rumpus celebrates its long-running “Funny Women” column and 1st-ever IRL Book Club event with readings by the column’s editor, Elissa Bassist (author of The Rumpus Book Club pick Hysterical), and a few of our favorite contributors, including Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties), Mia Mercado (The Cut, She’s Nice Though), and Jen […]
Where Dogs Bark With Their Tails: Estelle-Sarah Bulle and Naomi Jackson (In-Person)
Join Estelle-Sarah Bulle, French novelist, and Naomi Jackson, author of the widely acclaimed novel The Star Side of Bird Hill, for a discussion on Bulle’s bestselling debut novel, Where Dogs Bark with Their Tails. Where Dogs Bark with Their Tails examines the legacies of capitalism and colonialism, the experience of being caught between worlds, the […]
Dual Perspectives (Virtual)
A Public Space invites aspiring writers and editors to a conversation about the art of the editorial dialogue. Bring your questions and join APS managing editor Megan Cummins and Writing and Editorial Fellows Vivian Hu, Crawford Hunt, Taylor Michael, and Ruby Wang as they discuss their early experiences of working with either an editor or […]
